Ecclesiastes · Biblica Open New Living Bible (Nueva Biblia Viva 2008)
Ecclesiastes 8 Biblica Open New Living Bible (Nueva Biblia Viva 2008)
Audio: Reina-Valera Antigua (RVA), read by Joyfull · About the recordings
ONBV Biblica Open New Living Bible (Nueva Biblia Viva 2008)
WEB World English Bible (Classic, with Deuterocanon)
1 ¡Qué admirable es ser sabio, para poder comprender, analizar e interpretar las cosas! La sabiduría ilumina el rostro del ser humano, suavizando sus durezas.
1 Who is like the wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man’s wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.
2 Obedece al rey conforme a tu juramento. No andes tratando de rehuir responsabilidades, aunque sean desagradables. Porque el rey castiga a los desobedientes.
2 I say, “Keep the king’s command!” because of the oath to God.
3 Not in this translation
3 Don’t be hasty to go out of his presence. Don’t persist in an evil thing, for he does whatever pleases him,
4 Tras el mandato del rey hay gran poder, y nadie puede oponérsele u objetarlo.
4 for the king’s word is supreme. Who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
5 Quienes le obedecen no serán castigados. El sabio hallará tiempo y forma de cumplir lo que ordena.
5 Whoever keeps the commandment shall not come to harm, and his wise heart will know the time and procedure.
6 Para todo hay tiempo y manera, aunque el ser humano esté abrumado de dificultades; pues, ¿cómo evitar que acontezca lo que guarda el futuro desconocido?
6 For there is a time and procedure for every purpose, although the misery of man is heavy on him.
7 Not in this translation
7 For he doesn’t know that which will be; for who can tell him how it will be?
8 Nadie puede impedir que se le escape el espíritu; nadie tiene poder para evitar el día de la muerte, pues no hay licencia que libre de esa obligación y de esa negra batalla. Y desde luego, la maldad del ser humano no le ayudará entonces.
8 There is no man who has power over the spirit to contain the spirit; neither does he have power over the day of death. There is no discharge in war; neither shall wickedness deliver those who practice it.
9 He meditado profundamente en todo lo que ocurre en este mundo, en que los individuos tienen el poder de perjudicarse los unos a los otros. He visto los funerales de los malvados, y cuando sus amigos regresaban del cementerio, olvidadas todas las maldades del difunto, se le alababa en la misma ciudad en donde había cometido sus múltiples fechorías. ¡Qué absurdo!
9 All this I have seen, and applied my mind to every work that is done under the sun. There is a time in which one man has power over another to his hurt.
10 Not in this translation
10 So I saw the wicked buried. Indeed they came also from holiness. They went and were forgotten in the city where they did this. This also is vanity.
11 Como Dios no castiga instantáneamente a los pecadores, la gente cree que puede hacer el mal impunemente.
11 Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
12 Pero aunque el ser humano peque cien veces y continúe viviendo, sé que le irá mejor a quien teme a Dios y le guarda reverencia.
12 Though a sinner commits crimes a hundred times, and lives long, yet surely I know that it will be better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him.
13 En cambio, los malos, no tendrán larga y próspera vida: sus días serán tan efímeros como sombras, porque no temen a Dios.
13 But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he lengthen days like a shadow, because he doesn’t fear God.
14 Algo raro ocurre aquí en la tierra: pues hay gente justa a quien le va como si fuera malvada, y hay malvados a quienes les va como si fueran justos. Esto mortifica y molesta.
14 There is a vanity which is done on the earth, that there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked. Again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.
15 Entonces resolví dedicar la vida a divertirme, pues pensé que no había en el mundo nada mejor que comer, beber y alegrarse, con la esperanza de que esta felicidad permanecería en medio del duro trabajo que Dios asigna a la humanidad en todas partes.
15 Then I commended mirth, because a man has no better thing under the sun than to eat, to drink, and to be joyful: for that will accompany him in his labor all the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.
16 En mi búsqueda de sabiduría observé lo que acontecía en toda la tierra: incesante actividad día y noche. Pude ver todo lo que Dios había hecho. El ser humano no puede comprender todo lo hecho por Dios en esta vida. Por más que se esfuerce por encontrarle sentido, no lo hallará; aun cuando el sabio diga conocerlo, en realidad no lo puede comprender.
16 When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on the earth (even though eyes see no sleep day or night),
17 Not in this translation
17 then I saw all the work of God, that man can’t find out the work that is done under the sun, because however much a man labors to seek it out, yet he won’t find it. Yes even though a wise man thinks he can comprehend it, he won’t be able to find it.
Cross references (13)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Acts 6:15; Deuteronomy 28:50; 2 Peter 1:20; Proverbs 24:5; Proverbs 17:24
- 2 Proverbs 24:21; Titus 3:1; 1 Peter 2:13–17; 1 Kings 2:43; Romans 13:1–5
- 4 Romans 13:1–4; Job 9:12; Proverbs 20:2; Daniel 4:35; Romans 9:20
- 5 Hebrews 5:14; 1 Peter 3:13–14; Philippians 1:9–10; Acts 4:19; Luke 20:25
- 6 Ecclesiastes 3:1; Ecclesiastes 3:17; Luke 19:42–44; Ecclesiastes 3:11; Luke 17:26–30
- 8 Psalm 89:48; Job 14:5; Hebrews 9:27; Psalm 49:6–9; Ecclesiastes 3:21
- 9 Ecclesiastes 5:8; Ecclesiastes 4:7–8; Ecclesiastes 5:13; Ecclesiastes 3:10; Ecclesiastes 7:25
- 11 Isaiah 26:10; Psalm 50:21–22; Romans 2:4–5; 2 Peter 3:3–10; Matthew 24:49–50
- 12 Psalm 37:11; Luke 1:50; 2 Peter 2:9; Psalm 37:18–19; Ecclesiastes 7:15
- 13 Ecclesiastes 6:12; Isaiah 3:11; Job 14:2; Malachi 3:18; Isaiah 57:21
- 14 Ecclesiastes 7:15; Malachi 3:15; Ecclesiastes 2:14; Ecclesiastes 9:1–3; Psalm 73:3
- 15 Ecclesiastes 2:24; Ecclesiastes 5:18; Ecclesiastes 3:12–13; Ecclesiastes 9:7–9; Ecclesiastes 3:22
- 16 Ecclesiastes 2:23; Ecclesiastes 1:13; Psalm 127:2; Ecclesiastes 8:7; Ecclesiastes 8:9
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… which is done upon the earth; that there be just men unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked: again, there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous. I said, that this also is vanity." This wisest man devoted this whole book to a full exposure of this vanity, evidently …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)